The Strawberry Statement Notes of a College Revolutionary (W181)

The one book I'll never part with, that's followed me all over the world, through 41 of my 61 years and the 4 continents where I've lived, and is always kept beside my bed, is James Kunen's Strawberry Statement. I reread it every couple of years because it reminds me of who I was, what I believed in, and that I thought we could change the world. It serves me as some sort of moral compass, setting me back on track when I start getting complacent or jaded or just plain lazy.

if you're 19, a college student, or need some perspective, then this book needs to be read and digested. Kunen spits witty comments, gives anecdotes that are just plain hilarious, and while he's doing it, you're just a passive observer trying to wonder what could possibly happen next. a friend from school passed it on to me (the first addition, falling apart of course), and i immediately had to pass it on to a buddy of mine from Hopkins.

Easily one of the most readable and personal accounts of the radicalization of American youth in the sixties. I read it when it was first published and it blew me away. I followed Kunen's career on through his work with the Liberation News Service and his life in a New England commune and he did a magnificent job of chronicling our times.

The Strawberry Statement, by James Simon Kunen, is a fabulous book. If you are (or are shopping for) someone who is a little different, so to speak, then this book is a great idea. It chronicles the adventures of the author during the student uprising in 1968 at Columbia University. It also has many of his thoughts about a whole variety of issues. I highly recommend it.